More absurdity from the party of moral panic, as a Texas Republican claims that schools are lowering cafeteria tables to accommodate furries.

Source: Texas Monthly

On Sunday night, a candidate in the GOP primary for Texas House District 136, which includes a large portion of the suburbs north of Austin, tweeted a curious allegation. That candidate, Michelle Evans—an activist who works with the local chapter of conservative parents’ group Moms for Liberty and who cofounded the anti-vaccine political action committee Texans for Vaccine Choice, back in 2015—tweeted that “Cafeteria tables are being lowered in certain @RoundRockISD middle and high schools to allow ‘furries’ to more easily eat without utensils or their hands (ie, like a dog eats from a bowl).”

She was responding to a tweet from right-wing Texas provocateur Michael Quinn Sullivan, who had shared a video of a woman speaking at a December school board meeting in Midland, Michigan, claiming that schools there have added “litter boxes” in the halls to allow students who identify as “furries” to relieve themselves. Sullivan retweeted the video, adding, “This is public education.” (It isn’t; the claims made by the speaker in the video have been shown to be untrue.)

"When reached for an interview about her tweet, Evans said she had “no comment” and was “merely relaying information” that she received from another parent."

So, why are these people doing stuff like this, making absurd claims that are just outright lies? For attention's sake, that's why.

The goal of the furry wars seems to be to drum up outrage among parents who’ve grown addicted to school-related outrage, but who need a fix of something weirder and more specific than “critical race theory.” Spreading false stories about already embattled school administrators is justified, it seems, so long as it keeps the outrage machine churning along.

In crowded primaries, getting your name "out there" and ginning up the outrage is a fairly well-established strategy for winning elections these days among rightwingers. Who cares if what you're claiming is pure BS.

Cafeteria tables are being lowered in certain @RoundRockISD middle and high schools to allow “furries” to more easily eat without utensils or their hands (ie, like a dog eats from a bowl)

— Michelle Evans for TX (@ThinkerMichelle) January 23, 2022